The Funicular Railway on Cairn Gorm has now been out of service for more than a year. Its future remains unclear although Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) have said that it is their intention to have it repaired.
Parkswatch has previously had a look at this from the point of view of skiers (see here) and argued the funicular has inbuilt design flaws that means its unlikely to be in the interests of skiers to repair it. It does seem though that HIE are intent on repeating the erroneous decision to build it in the first place, by spending millions more to repair it. This post takes a further look at the flaws in HIE’s approach.
What has the funicular contributed to CairnGorm Mountain?
If the Funicular had been a commercial success then the Cairn Gorm mountain business could be expected to be self-financing and not reliant on the ad hoc injections of public funding that have managed to do little more than keep the business trading, unprofitably. The facts tell the true story. Funicular tourist numbers that are nowhere near projections and skier day numbers that are woefully short of where they should be……to the extent that the Cairn Gorm Mountain share of the Scottish snowsports market fell to an all time low of just 23.6% in the 2017/18 season which was prior to the Funicular failure (See here analysis from Alan Mackay, WinterHighland Ltd). The long-term average was over 40% in the decade up to 2013. The collapse in numbers in 2017/18 led to almost 40,000 skier days being lost to Cairn Gorm in what was a good snow winter. The financial loss to the hill business in that season alone was around £1m with the loss of spend in the local economy being in the region of £3-4m
To put the numbers into perspective: the forecast numbers after the Funicular was brought into service were 165,000 tourist passengers and 200,000 skier days per annum. The average numbers over the last 5 years, prior to the failure of the Funicular were: 130,991 tourist passengers and 60,258 snowsports customers per annum. The total numbers at 191,249 are considerably less than the forecast of 365,000 and the outcome, for the mountain business, has been disastrous, as highlighted below.
When HIE handed the lease to Natural Retreats in 2014, they also handed them £1.1m to spend on maintenance upgrades to uplift and£ 0.6m for maintenance to buildings. If the mountain business had been financially successful then it would never have required HIE to take it over in 2008 and the uplift and buildings would not have deteriorated to a point where £1.7m had to be provided to bring the assets up to a decent standard.
HIE also provided £267k in 2017 to demolish the Ciste and West Wall Chairlifts and to clean up various degradations and accumulated spoil materials from around the mountain.
As things stand today, it is very clear that further capital inputs are immediately necessary to
- Bring the carpark surface and drainage to an acceptable standard.
- Effect the repairs that are necessary to the outside of the Daylodge and Environs
- Replace ski infrastructure such as the WW Poma loading area and Control Hut and the ‘Chicken Gully’ bridge
- Upgrade the mains electrical supply to the hill.
When you see the level of dilapidation that still exists today then there isn’t a shadow of a doubt that the CairnGorm Mountain Business has been bringing in a level of revenue, over the last 2 decades, that does not come even close to being sufficient just to maintain the existing ‘assets’ far less invest in anything new and up to date.
How will repairing the Funicular, which has been a demonstrable commercial failure for almost 20 years, lead to a different outcome over the next 2 decades?
The politics of the funicular
It is also quite clear that our politicians are not fully informed. The HIE interim CEO answered questions posed by the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee at Holyrood on 24 September 2019 [Its well worth a view (see here from 27 mins)]. The CEO was evasive about the questions asked and failed to answer Green MSP Andy Wightman’s questions about whether HIE had already taken the decision to repair the funicular or not.
However, all the questions were focused on the cost of repair or removal and how that could be financed. No thorough questions were asked about the passenger numbers that used the Funicular or about the collapsed snowsports market share. It was also disappointing that no questions were asked about ongoing maintenance costs, continuing public subsidy or whole of life cost projections. It seemed that the focus was simply on the cost of repair vs the cost of removal.
HIE remain intent on convincing the Scottish Government that repair is the best option and the following quotes are taken from an update on HIE’s website
‘’HIE and the Scottish Government are agreed that repair is the preferred option in principle though it is important to stress that we need to conclude the engineers’ reviews and determine costs and funding sources before this can be approved’’
‘’We very much welcome this update which underlines both the fantastic potential of Cairngorm as a national asset and the importance of the Funicular to a successful mountain resort’’
‘’ Cairn Gorm is a key asset for Scotland, both environmentally and economically and the Funicular is a key asset for Cairn Gorm’’
That’s clear enough: the Funicular is being touted as a ‘key asset’ as is the ‘’importance of the Funicular to a successful mountain resort’’ There is no mention that I can find anywhere of any rigorous examination of the impact of the Funicular on the Commercial viability of the CairnGorm Mountain business and no examination of any alternative to the Funicular. It isn’t at all difficult to see where HIE are placing their focus. In fact, HIE intend to place their business case for repairing the Funicular before the Scottish Government in December 2019.
HIE are misinforming the media and the public
In a recently posted news story on BBC Highland’s website (see here) it was stated that repairing the Funicular would cost around £10m but removing it would cost around £13m. There was no detailed information and no analysis of the ongoing costs of supporting the Funicular into the future.
It was also claimed that the Funicular carried about 300,000 passengers each year before it failed in September 2018. A personal approach was made to the BBC at their Inverness office to find out where they had obtained that information. The BBC confirmed that HIE had provided them with it. [Ed. the false figure is still on the BBC website]. It needs to be made perfectly clear that the Funicular has never carried that many passengers in any single year since it first went into service.
As stated above:
The maximum number of passengers carried was 275,198 in the 2009/10 season. That number was made up of 130,191 Tourist passengers and 145,007 Snowsports passengers. In fact, the average number of passengers carried during the last 5 years of operation was just 191,248 which is a very long way short of the claimed 300,000. We are left to wonder just exactly why the government’s development agency in the Highlands should be prepared to publish such erroneous information. Could it be the case that they are endeavouring to make the Funicular passenger numbers look much healthier than is actually the case?
[Ed. unfortunately the false information being issued by HIE are now being repeated elsewhere e.g here)]
HIE is also ignoring the facts about the funicular’s contribution to the local economy
HIE also had this to say on their website
‘’It’s absolutely vital that we continue to address the serious challenges caused by the Funicular being out of action and ensure that CairnGorm remains a significant driver of the local economy.”
What evidence has HIE published that shows that CairnGorm Mountain is a significant driver of the local economy? Have they conducted any research in Aviemore and StrathSpey to find out the facts.
It might have been expected that Aviemore and Strathspey would have experienced a considerable reduction in tourist numbers this year during the late Spring, Summer and Autumn if the Funicular was what brought them to the area in the first place. However, that has not been the outcome and tourist numbers have remained buoyant during the late Spring, Summer and Autumn 2019 to the extent that the out of operation Funicular has made no difference to trading levels. In fact, there is anecdotal evidence that the spend that used to be made on the hill has largely transferred to Aviemore and Strathspey with some food and beverage outlets reporting increases to business by comparison to 2018 [which was a better summer…weather wise].
HIE could conduct their own market research but nobody should expect them to do that because it would reveal the inconvenient truth that the Funicular isn’t the driver of tourism in Strathspey that HIE would like people to believe it to be.
Is the Funicular a necessary uplift during the winter snowsports season? Skier day numbers had been declining for several years prior to the failure and that evidence does suggest that snowsports enthusiasts were less than enthusiastic about using it as a means of uplift. HIE could have conducted their own market research here too and asked users for their views about the Funicular and what uplift they would like to find on the mountain. Regrettably, that hasn’t been done.
HIE’s failure to consider the bigger picture
HIE now seem to be intent on taking forward the Funicular repair process before the co-called Masterplan for CairnGorm has been produced. The proposed Masterplan has already been compromised, in advance of its production. More public money will now be wasted as HIE have their already decided plans supported by a consultant’s report. That can be the only conclusion when they have already placed plans to extend the Ptarmigan before the planning committee [approved] and also put in a planning application for ‘summer grooming’ i.e. bulldozing work, outside the Daylodge, to create a smooth piste for a beginners’ area as well as put in a Tube Slide between the upper and lower Cas Carparks. Quite how a business case can be made for repairing and retaining the Funicular, in advance of any finalized Masterplan remains unclear.
The publication of Funicular passenger numbers as being around 300,000 per annum when in fact the numbers are below 200,000 on average during the last 5 years of operation does perhaps provide some insight into the level of imprudence that we might expect to find in passenger numbers forecasts in the supportive business plan. In addition, what would be the impact on usage of the Funicular if the proposal to construct an Alpine Coaster was ever brought to fruition?
The push to gain approval for repairing the Funicular simply emphasizes HIE’s intentions.
Summary
The Funicular Railway on CairnGorm has been a commercial failure. That is evidenced by the fact that the business has gone bust twice in 10 years, by the amount of public funding that has been put in to upgrade maintenance and by the level of dilapidation to assets that have not been effectively maintained. HIE are intent on repeating the disasters of the past by repairing and bringing back into use the Funicular Railway. There has been no customer-based research undertaken to determine why the snowsports market share had collapsed before the Funicular failed and no research to find out what customers want to find on Cairn Gorm
Conclusion
Repairing the Funicular will be likely to condemn the CairnGorm Mountain business to a mediocre future. Ultimately, it will not be HIE or the Scottish Government that will determine the future success or failure of the mountain business. Customers will make that determination by either returning to CairnGorm or continuing to drift away. The evidence suggests that it is the latter which is the most likely outcome.
What should happen now
The Scottish Government minister for Finance, Derek Mackay MSP should take an unbiased, indepth look at the proposal to repair the Funicular and he should ignore any advice provided by HIE who have proven, time and again, that they do not have the competence to be involved in the decision making process at CairnGorm Mountain.
What should happen now, is the funicular should be demolished and replaced with a modern gondola system. The latest systems can easily cope with the weather conditions at Cairngorm. The track could be removed for a fraction of the figures being quoted, a demolition excavator with a crusher jaw and a tracked rock crusher could do this in no time. The concrete could be fragmentised and reused on the surface of the existing hill road or car parks. The reinforcing bars and other steelwork is a sellable commodity and will recoup some of the costs.
It’s high time they stopped prevaricating and got this done, another winter is about to be lost to the good people and businesses of Aviemore and the Highlands. The local economy is being slowly destroyed by continual ducking of responsibilities and covering of tracks from previous bad decision making. Put your hand up apologize move on and do it !!!
Yes, this needs to land on the desk of Derek Mackay, the Cabinet Secretary responsible for Scotland’s economy. In reaching his conclusions on the way forward he should totally ignore anything said about Cairn Gorm by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Fairy tales are for fools, not politicians. The Scottish Government’s conclusion is likely to be that the Funicular should be mothballed, with the carriages sold off to theme park operators for conversion to alternative uses. The rail track and supports can remain, with much of it slowly disappearing under the new woodland and montane scrub that needs planting in Coire Cas. The £millions of public money still to be spent on this mountain should then be allocated to clearing up the dilapidated buildings and other structures which litter the slopes and then constructing a new network of chairlifts. That is the only way that Cairn Gorm will recover its reputation as a place to go for skiing, mountain biking and walking. Any politician who cannot see this should lose their seat at the next election.
As long as it is suitable for those less able to climb to the top. Those of us who are a little older than most or have mobility issues shouldn’t be prohibited from access the top and its facilities.
A. Lassen, I have to agree with your comments about the demolition costs but it would appear that HIE have again pre-empted the outcome. In 2018 the SE Group was commissioned to provide a study into a way forward for the Cairngorm business, which HIE pre-empted by removing the Ciste Chairs so that they could not form part of the appraisal. They have now done the same again by proposing estimated prices, with no explanation as to where they got them from, for repair or demolition. What they have effectively said to any business tendering for either job is ” here are our estimates provide tenders somewhere around these figures and you’ve got the job”.
D. Morris, anything that comes from HIE needs to be taken with a whole bucket of salt, not a pinch. If the Funicular didn’t operate for a period of 12 months, it and associated buildings were supposed to be removed unless agreement was reached to extend this by upto 24 months. Has this been agreed? There has to be a second hand value to some of the infrastructure, has that been investigated? Could the bottom station be used for a new chair/ gondola hybrid for instance? Removing the support pillars has been mentioned in an earlier PW post by Drennan Watson who advocated complete removal, however the post did say that sub surface watercourses may have been altered when the Funicular was built. Total removal could therefore alter these again, leaving a sensible option of removal to about 300mm below surrounding ground level and re-instatement of the land as being the only option.
Of course all of this requires HIE to take notice of what people want, and the only way that will happen is if we all present a united front to HIE and persuade them into doing what businesses and the public are asking for. Remove the Funicular and build us a 6/6/8 chair/ gondola hybrid.
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As usual the usual gang are attempting to get the funicular railway removed. I fully support the funicular railway development. With a downturn in skiing it was built to increase summer tourist use. However, that was sabotaged by the planning conditions and objectors to the project making profit impossible with the Visitor Manage Plan restrictions.
This blog has only a few responses but most insist the funicular is removed. Some statements are not correct. My interpretation of the s75 planning conditions are that the proprietor has to remove the funicular if it is out of use for 3 years. Funny old thing this condition does not apply to Highlands and Islands Enterprise, who are the proprietors.
I am genuinely interested why you support this, is it the aesthetics of the train. The slow travel times, its inability to cope with peak demand the fact it takes huge manpower to clear the track and tunnel entrance when it snows? It does nothing well and it was poorly designed, badly installed and subject to inadequate maintenance. In a time that the other uplift served areas of Scotland are seeing increased numbers this white elephant has driven people away.
We can all say or write what we want but is anyone ever going to listen to Joe public ??
Hie have made their mind up and to hell with everyone else !!!
https://www.doppelmayr.com/uploads/tx_vcs/Funitel2013_ENG-Doppelmayr.pdf
There you go, the perfect solution for Cairngorm, take a look at the Doppelmayr Funitel link and spread the word.
https://www.doppelmayr.com/uploads/tx_vcs/Kombibahnen2013_ENG-Doppelmayr.pdf
Or this one !
Kevin,
I happen to agree with much of what you say. However, that is what we have and the funicular needs to be repaired. As I have said before most problems were caused by some crazy planning conditions in this unprotected area. Management decisions, like rationalizing ski tows and the removal of the Coire na Ciste chairlift which was frequently used to access the high ground at busy times were contributing factors to the failure of the hill.
When I worked on Cairngorm in the mid 1990s there were frequently 40 coaches parked in Coire Cas at weekends.
I would also agree that the Doppelmayr Gondola would be better. However, it is totally unrealistic for the public to pay for the removal of the funicular and build the gondola.
Well if H.I.E. pay for the new gondola, I’m pretty sure we could crowd fund/find some volunteers for the demolition of the funicular. The figures being talked about for repairs and maintenance of the almost 20 year old funicular, probably wouldn’t be far off the cost of the gondola. Someone should engage with Doppelmayr or Poma for some preliminary cost comparisons !
Ray, What if the cost of the removal of the Funicular AND building a chair/ gondola hybrid could be done for less than the in excess of £9.6m that HIE are guessing the repair bill is going to be? Remember that £9.6m is the figure included in the 2018/19 accounts AS A PROVISION towards the cost of repairs! The biggest problem is that until the work is put out to tender no one knows what will be the relative costs of repair or removal, although at some time in the future it will have to be removed. The information released by HIE may or may not include the cost of yearly maintenance, the replacement of obsolete equipment, a programme that HIE has already said it will bring forward, in other words a whole life costing. I have an estimated price from Doppelmayr for a 6/6/8 chair/ chair/ gondola hybrid of £6m to the Shieling. If that could be built next year, there could be at least guaranteed uplift to access the Cas and M1 poma for winter 2020/21. While HIE are saying the Funicular could be repaired in one summer they cannot be 100% certain. My idea would be to leave the Funicular as it is now, build a hybrid and start making money for CMSL, money which could then be used to build more new uplift and remove the Funicular without public funding!
Are Scotland’s ski fields going to head the same way as many of Europe’s? It would be sad, I’ve had many good days at Cairn Gorm and Aonach Mor…. https://newrepublic.com/article/154261/climate-change-italy-alps-ruins-ski-resorts
What I don’t understand is – why are HIE not taking action against Morrison Construction (the original contractors) as it has been shown that there were various construction flaws with the concrete tracks and supports eg, crumbling supports – suggests the wrong type of concrete was used ?.
On the maintenance of the funicular – how did it pass health and safety inspections which must have been required each year ?
I don’t think a gondola to the ptarmigan would work due to the winds are too strong to operate many times during the winter season.
The Funicular makes it easy for less experienced skiers to reach the top of the ski area all season and especially towards the end of the season when the snow starts to go from the lower slopes
It also allows access for all during the summer – a very important part of the season and income – just look at Nevis Range, for example.
like Glencoe, Nevis Range, Glenshee and Lecht – downhill mountain biking, camping, hobbit huts, high wire advetures,etc should be re-examined.
The installation of downloadable chair lifts and other tows is a good one, but to enhance what is there already, not to replace existing lifts as so much of the previous uplift has been taken away
Its a real shame as used to love skiing at Cairngorm as it was the place to ski in Scotland, but it has been overtaken by all the other resorts in terms of what terrain is on offer and the variety of other activities to do
A proper business model is required for the future strategy and for re-development with a proper costing and implementation plan
Alasdair. The White Lady Chairlift operated successfully for many years when skier numbers were much greater than they are now. Modern Chairlifts have much higher wind tolerances than was the case over 20 years ago and Gondola systems can also operate in wind speeds that would deter anyone from skiing. Repairing the Funicular will simply lock in the inefficiencies that cannot be removed from the system and condemn the CairnGorm Mountain business to the same failure in the future as has been evident for the last 20 years.
Hi Alan – agreed, However the summer trade is also very important to Cairngorm and the local community, therefore a funicular is important to allow this to happen – the infrastructure is there already so why change it ? there are funiculars all over the alps which are far older than the one at Cairngorm (Tignes, Kaprun, Val d’isere) so why cant the one at Cairngorm work ? or why hasn’t it worked ? possibly construction defects ? so why not pursue the original contractors to fix those ? and why not sue Natural Retreats for nor maintaining it.
I take your point about modern Chair lift and gondolas being able to cope with windier conditions, but the proposed routes of new chairs at Cairngorm will likely be shut many times during the ski season due to wind exposure – especially the one to the top!
Alternative quotes should be sought for repair / removal as no doubt improvements can be made to the costs involved.
The key to cairngorm success in the future is proper planning and enhancing uplift not taking it away – that’s why Cairngorm is a mess !
> However the summer trade is also very important to Cairngorm
Agree. However underlying root cause to Cairngorms obvious problems is that the funicular cant make money in summer. It is of no use to hikers, mountain bikers or any form of outdoor recreation. Because you can get out at the top in summer repeat summer custom is limited to cake hunters and bus tours. When was the last time you paid to go up the funicular in summer?
Hi Alasdair, Why would you fix the Funicular when it has proved itself to be a Commercial disaster? It has never carried anywhere near the projected numbers, summer or winter, with the financial consequences being obvious. There is no evidence that it will carry more passengers after it has been fixed than it did before it failed. It is clearly too costly to operate in relation to the revenue that it brings in. Are you familiar with the terms of the lease agreement? The operator has a full maintenance lease with exceptions. Every single exception is to do with the Funicular and the owner has to pay for renewal/repair of all 11 items on the exceptions list. In the year before it failed, a new haul rope was fitted at a cost that was around 100k……that is indicative of the amounts required to keep it operating that are not generated from ticket sales. That shows that it isn’t expected that it can be self financing and will be subject to public subsidy, into the future. How much public subsidy is provided to Nevis Range to enable the operability of the Gondola there? That’s a successful business model that operates without millions of pounds of public money being poured into it. If the Funicular is repaired and brought back into service then that will condemn the CairnGorm Mountain business to continued commercial failure. It needs to be removed and replaced with different uplift that can operate commercially successfully as is the case at Nevis Range
Aah, today I read on planetski that someone in their wisdom at H.I.E. has decided that buying a Pistenbully PB100 with a cabin on the back will solve the uplift problem this winter. The PB100 is the smallest Pistenbully and can carry ten people at a push in the passenger cabin, with that number of people and ski equipment on board it won’t have enough power to get out of the car park, It will almost certainly destroy its aluminum tracks and mangle the ground/path it will need to travel over to get to the snow line. A Bigger Pistenbully could at least carry twenty and would have a half a chance of getting up the hill on rubber tracks, but the number of people it would be capable of ferrying up any distance in an hour would be tiny, you would need a fleet of machines to make any impact and they would do some amount of environmental damage in the process. I congratulate H.I.E. for attempting to do something for this winter, but Whoever is advising them on this matter clearly has no idea of what they’re talking about.
https://www.planetski.eu/news/12186
Bring home the raf from training the head choppers and instead of blowing up hundreds of innocent people send a laser guided pathway missile straight at crap train thing stuck on hill
Gondola is the only way and starting from Glenmore to make sure we can get up the hill when it snows!! Alwsys like original Save the Ciste plan with Gondola uplidt and tracks back dowm through the forest for skiers and mtb riders.